Fresh from his trip to his home of Zambia, Amon Simutowe jetted off to the Netherlands to play in the prestigious Essent Open. Simutowe spent the last couple of weeks recuperating from a grueling schedule ending with the 2007 African Championships. Simutowe was disappointed in his loss in the tiebreaker, but states that he will continue toward gaining the last qualification for the GM title… 2500 rating.

Simutowe has a tournament schedule through the end of the year and since he has already earned the 3rd GM norm, he will spend a portion of his time writing chess articles and promoting the sport. During his trip in Zambia, he was able to speak to the youth about his GM journey and hopes to continue his ambassadorship throughout the African continent. Hopefully, the government will oblige and present him with a diplomatic passport.

Essent Open (Official Site)

Results of GM-elect Amon Simtuowe (Zambia, 2421 ELO)

Round 1: Arlette van Weersel (Netherlands,  2174 ELO) - Simutowe, 0-1
Round 2: Simutowe - Kai Rooda (Netherlands, 2146 ELO), 1-0
Round 3: IM Thal Abergal (France, 2528 ELO) - Simutowe, 0-1
Round 4: GM Jan Werle (Netherlands, 2568 ELO) - Simutowe, 1-0
Round 5: Simutowe - GM Dimitri Reinderman (Netherlands, 2510 ELO), ½-½
Round 6: Simutowe - GM Yge Visser (Netherlands, 2470 ELO), ½-½
Round 7: GM Leonid Gofshtein (Israel, 2542 ELO)  - Simutowe, 1-0
Round 8: Simutowe - FM Richard Vedder (Netherlands, 2297 ELO), 1-0
Round 9: WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova (Azerbaijan, 2342 ELO) - Simutowe, 0-1

Score: 6-3

Posted by The Chess Drum: 16 October 2007